


Flight

by attaccabottoni



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 07:44:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5366984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attaccabottoni/pseuds/attaccabottoni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giovanni wished to lessen the burden on Lorenzo's shoulders, and not add to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this fanart on tumblr](http://il-magnifico.tumblr.com/post/3357679702).
> 
> So, I started playing Assassin's Creed Syndicate yesterday. In other news, I'm still not over my AC II feels, hence my reposting of this old work from LiveJournal, because there's never enough ~~angst~~ stories on these two.

_1470:_

When Lorenzo's hands had slipped from skimming his back down into his breeches, it occurred to Giovanni that he needed to break off from their hungry kissing to give voice to the query ringing clearly in his mind, despite the whirling of his thoughts since Lorenzo's hands had reached for him.

"Wait a moment, Altezza."

Lorenzo did not look pleased at being interrupted. "Is something the matter?" he demanded.

Giovanni strove to ignore that he had caused the breathless impatience in his master's strident tone. "I need to ask you--"

"What is so important that it cannot wait until the business at hand is finished?" Lorenzo cut him off with undisguised exasperation.

Lorenzo had stopped moving, however, so he took it as a sign to continue, and put effort not to be distracted by awareness of where their bodies were touching. From his grip of Lorenzo by the shoulders, he moved his hands and gently held the face of whom he honored and served for years. "Are you certain?"

Thankfully, Lorenzo visibly controlled himself to think deeply upon the question. "Do you doubt my intentions," he began slowly, his voice still tinged with irritation, "or do you doubt my ability to follow through them?"

Giovanni took the moment to take stock of the situation. He found that his reservations were not from what Lorenzo had remarked on. And had it been from moral scruples (and he knew he would have to rigorously examine himself why he hadn't any), he would have had objected rather than asked for assurances on the proceedings.

As he tried to still his rapidly beating heart, he realized that the reason he wanted Lorenzo to be certain was due to one, among a multitude, of his impetus in serving the young Medici lord.

Giovanni wished to lessen the burden on Lorenzo's shoulders, and not add to it. Lorenzo was young (and he may have to remonstrate himself with the many memories associated with this fact, under this new fact of having laid hands upon someone he had watched from childhood), and already he carried a great deal of obligations, the weight of which a young man his age would be staggering beneath. To lay the responsibility of his affections on Lorenzo would lead Lorenzo to seek recompensing him, and the very idea did not sit well with Giovanni. Rather than profit from this exchange, this would bind Lorenzo to depend on the momentary pleasure this would bring.

And as a banker striving to free the Brotherhood from the unnecessary sacrifices for fighting a war in the shadows, as an assassin he also sought to free Lorenzo from the unnecessary sacrifices for leading Firenze into its golden age. Altering their relations, wherever it may lead them and however it may change them, would only be an additional complication and a whole new front in their numerous fields of battle.

It would be folly to start a venture from which Lorenzo would benefit little in the long run, no matter his evident desires.

Before Giovanni could speak of any of these, Lorenzo surprised him by repeating that which began this in the first place. Taking the hands that were cradling his face, Lorenzo gently pressed his lips to both, and looked into Giovanni's eyes with purpose and unrestrained fondness.

"Of course I am certain," and letting a corner of his mouth twitch upwards, he added, "and I forbid you to ever believe otherwise."

Lorenzo's gaze -- burning with passion and conviction that, when directed at him Giovanni felt humbled, and which he trusted to guide his aim as he soared to where Lorenzo directs him -- compelled him to press closer and seal his allegiance to this course of action with a kiss.

He found that he was prone to following Lorenzo's lead in matters concerning Lorenzo, so when Lorenzo renewed his attack on Giovanni's mouth and decidedly stuck his hands behind Giovanni's breeches to better grasp acquisitively, Giovanni held on to Lorenzo and took a leap of faith.

\-----

After their vigorous exertions and shortly before Lorenzo fell into blissful sleep, he took Giovanni's hand and fiercely whispered that this happened of his own choice, reiterating that he had expressly forbidden Giovanni to doubt him.

Giovanni looked at where his hand was clasped close to Lorenzo's chest.

Were it not for Lorenzo's will to return his affections, he would not have had the courage to accept. And yet he could not stop himself from worrying. However dearly Lorenzo had been and would be loved, and the advantages granted to his position of power, with the precariousness of life, what could be there that would truly remain to him?

Giovanni could only console himself of what he was certain he knew. Having justice and honor graven upon his very being, Lorenzo would grow to serve Firenze with greater passion and with a kind of love that brought more gain than loss. So he closed his eyes to his vague fears, and trusted that Lorenzo's heart, tempered as it was by his prevailing sense of duty, was strong and tender enough not to be broken.

\-----

 

_1476:_

When Giuliano refused to leave his presence out of concern for him, it occurred to Lorenzo that he needed to do something other than stand motionlessly by the balcony, despite his mind's inability to dwell on anything other than the idea that Firenze had grown darker since he last gazed upon it.

"I will be all right, brother."

From the corner of his vision, the unease he saw writ all over Giuliano's bearing meant he had to strive harder at being convincing.

Turning stiffly, Lorenzo looked imploringly at him. "I have need to be alone for the moment."

Giuliano still seemed reluctant to acquiesce. "Are you certain?"

Lorenzo wanted to say no. He wanted to wail that he was too young to live with memories that bring inconsolable grief. He wanted to get angry at the senseless way he lost the brightest part of his life. He simply wanted today to have never happened, knowing for certain that there was nothing he could do for Giovanni anymore, which meant accepting that the part of him that belonged to Giovanni had died along with him.

He knew what Giovanni would have wanted him to say, but Giovanni was not here.


End file.
